Before sending off a new class of graduates in May, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music ends its concert season with two works by Benjamin Britten that brim with youthful exuberance. Every section of the Conservatory Orchestra from piccolo to timpani gets a chance to shine in The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. And the Conservatory Opera spins Britten's coming-of-age comedy Albert Herring around the maypole in a fully-staged performance. In addition, solo and chamber music recitals continue at a furious pace at 50 Oak Street right up to graduation. Details of all performances can be found at calendar.sfcm.edu.

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra has charmed listeners of all ages with its combination of drama and playfulness, even while wearing its pedagogical mission on its sleeve. Britten adapts a theme by seventeenth-century English composer Henry Purcell to illustrate the timbres of strings, woodwinds, brass, harp and percussion, and to show off the solo chops of individual players. Music director Scott Sandmeier also conducts the Conservatory Orchestra in Cantabile for Strings by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, a piece whose somber beauty has been likened to Barber's Adagio for Strings. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor concludes the program. A musical representation of a struggle against fate that leads to ultimate triumph, the work is sure to resonate with the graduating class of 2015. Performances are Saturday, May 2 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m.Tickets are $20 general admission and $15 for students, seniors and Friends of the Conservatory.

Read the full press release here.